Friday, September 28, 2012

Three Year Old Neediness

Peter and I haven't been seeing eye to eye lately.  He just seems to NEED so much of me and I feel like he is already getting much more time and attention than his fair share and that Elliot and Doug and the house and my other responsibilities are getting short changed.

This morning I asked what he wanted to do while we waited for the roofer.

He wanted to paint.  Sure.
He wanted all the colors of paint.  Sure, I squeezed all 10 colors onto his palette.
He wanted 5 different colors of paper.  Sure, I counted out the 5 colors he chose.
He wanted two big and one little paint brushes.  Sure, I guess I can wash three instead of one.

That whole process took about 15 minutes during which time Elliot was tired and unhappy in the office - but he played and waited until it was his turn.

Once Peter was all set up, I told him I had to take Elliot up for his nap and that I would be back in two minutes.  That is truly how long it takes to put Elliot down - Peter lasted about 15 seconds.  I heard the first "Mom" before I had even gotten half way up the stairs.  I heard the 10th as I was walking into Elliot's room.  I heard the 20th screamed as I put Elliot in his crib.  By the time I walked back to the table Peter was screaming and sobbing my name like I had abandoned him at that table for a month.

What on Earth was the problem?  He needed more blue paint.  He had not touched the blue paint that he had - in fact, he had not touched any of the paints -  but he desperately, screamingly needed more of it.

Yesterday, he dumped almost every toy in the basement because I left to talk to the insurance adjuster for a few minutes.  If I leave him eating breakfast he "spills" half of his dry cereal all over the floor in the time it takes me to throw a load of laundry in the washer.

Yeah, he and I aren't seeing eye to eye.

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